My Old Neighbor
by Demonic Daydreams
Summary: AU. After a chance encounter when they were younger, little Ivan and Alfred grow up together as best friends. But, Ivan has a secret. He doesn't want to tell anyone about it...But, could not telling anyone mean tragedy? RusAme. Warning: Character Death Later on. T because I'm all...paranoid.


Alfred sighed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans as he walked back to his old house. The house, which was worn down and covered in vines, had been in his family since before he was born. It wasn't a big house, just an average sized home in a good neighborhood.

Most of the neighborhood was full of immigrants, though. The twins who lived across the street were Italians, then there were the German brothers at the end of the block, the Hungarian woman and her ex-husband, the Austrian, lived in houses side by side. There was the Spanish man who lived in the house next to the Italian brothers, the Swiss man whose little sister also lived with him, next to the Austrian's house.

Alfred froze and winced at the memory of that man. He'd accidentally stepped on the lawn and ended up getting shot in the leg. As he continued walking, he noticed the house next door, which had been abandoned since Alfred was sixteen years old. But, Alfred remembered who lived there before, even though everyone wanted to forget him...

* * *

_Little Alfred ran through the backyard, a little black puppy at his heels._

_"Make sure you're back inside when dinner's done!" called a distinctive British voice.  
_

_Arthur was his Mother's child from a previous marriage so Alfred didn't know him well, but they still got along famously...except Arthur's three other brothers that constantly bullied Arthur._

_"Mhm! Okay, Big Brother!" Alfred said, turning around and waving to his big brother. Arthur smiled and waved back, leaning in the doorway. Just as Alfred turned around, he heard Arthur's older brother, Allistor, shouting insults at him. Alfred's feet pounded against the grass faster, scared that the boys would come after him, too._

_"C'mon, Jessie," Alfred said, looking at the black puppy who was running behind him..well, more like walking now._

_The dog simply whined, stopping dead in its tracks. Alfred stopped as well, cocking his head to the side._

_"What's wrong...?" He asked, going toward the puppy. He heard Allistor's voice again, this time it was closer, so he continued running without his puppy. Fear had blocked any real thinking from his mind. The only thing he knew was that he was scared...Very scared. He ended up fleeing into the sunflower garden in their large backyard, hiding among the big yellow flowers._

_They shared this garden with the neighbors, since the people next door also grew sunflowers. Alfred reached the gate that separated their gardens and glanced frantically behind him, still hearing Allistor's voice, as well as the voices of the other two brothers...and they were still getting closer. Alfred jumped to reach the latch on the gate and missed. Whining softly, he jumped again, his little white dress... **outfit** got under his feet and he tripped, hitting the ground facefirst._

_"Owww..." He muttered quietly, peeling himself off the ground. He heard Allistor's heavily accented voice exclaim something in Scottish as well as seeing the sunflowers nearby rustle. He jumped up again and, this time, he successfully pushed the latch up and bolted through the gate, shutting it with a soft clink of metal behind him._

_Little Alfred then looked around frantically for something to wedge into the gate to keep it from opening. His eyes caught a glint of sunlight bouncing off of something metal. When he glanced over, he smiled widely. It was a metal faucet pipe! He could wedge it into the gate to at least make it really hard for Allistor to open the gate. Scurrying over, he picked up the large pipe in his tiny hands and lugged it over to the gate, shoving it into place quickly._

_He giggled quietly and jumped for joy, happy that Allistor wouldn't be able to get him. Then, he heard Allistor's angry voice on the other side of the gate. He simply stuck his tongue out before turning on his heel and continuing to run into the garden. The neighbors would understand...He'd seen a little boy run into their side of the garden often, presumably from an insane little girl that Alfred had seen from his window._

_Once he was sure he was deep into the garden, he plopped down, fidgeting with the end of his dress...OUTFIT, it was not a dress. He sighed and hung his head. Okay, it was a dress. His Mother thought he looked cute in it, even though he really hated how the other kids would laugh at him for wearing a dress that should've been worn by a little girl. She'd even embarrassed him more by putting a little red ribbon around his neck. He looked like a girl! People had even mistaken him for a girl in public. He sniffled quietly. His older step brothers, besides Arthur, had always made fun of him and his twin brother Mathew for what their Mother forced them to wear._

_Sniffing again, he wiped the tears from his eyes with the end of his dress._

_"Hello? You are the boy next door, da?" A little voice asked. Alfred squeaked and jumped back, his blue eyes wide._

_Oh no! Someone had seen him crying. Heroes aren't supposed to cry!_

_"U-Uh...Yeah..." He muttered, wiping his eyes frantically. The little boy cocked his head, a little smile on his lips._

_"What's your name?" He asked curiously._

_"A-Alfred..." He muttered. Then, he realized how unheroic muttering was. He cleared his throat. "Alfred F. Jones." He said with more confidence._

_The little boy held out his hand. "I'm Ivan, Ivan Braginski." He told Alfred._

_Little Alfie brightened up immediately, shaking his hand. This Ivan was his first friend, except for Arthur and Mattie of course._

_"Can I call you Sunflower?" Ivan asked suddenly._

_"Sure! But...Why?" Alfie asked, wondering as to why he would want to call him that, of all things._

_Ivan just said nothing, the smile remaining plastered on his face. Alfred and Ivan then continued to talk, walking through the garden all the while._

_"So...Who are you hiding from?" Ivan asked._

_"Hm?" Alfie had a confused expression on his face. Ivan then pointed to the gate._

_"You jammed the gate...You must've been running from someone." Alfred suddenly remembered the reason why he was in the garden in the first place._

_"Oh...Yeah...I was trying to get away from my mean older brothers, especially Allistor, that big meanie! He constantly picks on me and my twin brother Mattie. But, I wasn't running away. I was 'retreating.' Heroes don't run away." Alfred stated stubbornly._

_Ivan nodded. "I had to get away from my little sister, Natalya. She's obsessed with me..." He muttered._

_"Obsessed? How?" Alfie asked._

_"She wants to marry me. She chases me around the house...She even ripped the doorknob off my door once!"_

_Alfred's eyes widened. "Marry you? Ewwwww! Girls!" Alfred exclaimed, shuddering. "And she's your sister..." He mumbled._

_Ivan nodded in agreement. Then, he glanced around before whispering in Alfred's ear, "My Mom told me that she's obsessed with me because her last older brother died overseas in combat. He was a soldier."_

_Alfred sucked in a breath, tears springing to his eyes. "M...My Dad died overseas, too..." He muttered._

_Ivan looked at him strangely before a smile spread across his face, not the creepy little one he'd been wearing since Alfie had begun talking to him, but a real smile._

_"You understand..." He muttered._

_Alfie didn't know what he meant, but he nodded anyway._

_"Alfred! Alfred F. Jones!" The voice of Alfred's older brother, Arthur, called from his house._

_Alfie's eyes widened and he glanced at the sky. It was dark out! He'd been out too late!_

_"I have to go." Alfred muttered._

_"Ivan! Little Brother! Natalya is gone! Please, come inside!" Another voice, one Alfred didn't recognize, cried out for Ivan._

_"So do I." Ivan said, sighing softly and staring at his feet. He began to turn to leave but Alfred grabbed his wrist._

_"Wait here for a second." Alfred said, scrambling off. Ivan heard the clink of the metal gate opening and saw Alfred's golden blonde hair disappear into the garden. After a few minutes, Ivan grew worried that Alfred had abandoned him...like everyone else._

_But, thankfully, as he began to think these negative thoughts, Alfie returned, holding something behind his back._

_"I got you something from our garden~!" He chimed. Just as he said this, white flakes began to fall from the sky, sticking to everything. Alfred shivered slightly and Ivan gained a worried look._

_"Are you okay?" He asked. Alfred simply nodded._

_"Here," he said, holding out a freshly picked sunflower. Ivan gasped quietly. See, Ivan's Mother had forbade him from picking sunflowers from their garden and he wasn't honestly supposed to even **be **in the garden. Alfred giving him this...It was perfect. He smiled softly and stared into Alfred's happy blue eyes before gingerly taking it in his hands._

_"Spasibo," he murmured._

_"What?" Alfred asked._

_"Thank you...In Russian..."_

_Before anymore words could be exchanged, another voice called for Ivan, this one was angry and cruel._

_"My Mother is calling me. Goodbye." he said, nodding to Alfred before scrambling away, tripping over the edge of his scarf as he ran._

_Alfred stared at his retreating form, wondering why he was so scared when his Mother had called him. He would've thought more on this but, by now, the snow was coming down heavily and he was shivering violently. He quickly retreated to his house, happy to hear that Allistor and his other two older brothers had gone out drinking. Mother had left on another business trip so it was just Arthur, Mattie and Francis at home. Francis was a close cousin but he treated Alfred and Mattie like younger brothers, much to the annoyance of Arthur._

_Thankfully, this night, they'd been able to get along. The four of them sat in the living room, drinking hot chocolate while Arthur told stories of mythical creatures like Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, Leprechauns, Unicorns and the Flying Mint Bunny. Eventually, the Mattie and Alfie fell asleep on the couch next to each other. Francis and Arthur carried the twins up to their shared room, tucking them into their bunk beds. Alfred was on bottom, seeing as he had a habit to toss and turn in bed and his Mother didn't want him falling off the top bunk._

_When the twins were tucked in, the light was turned off and the boys slept soundly. Alfred dreamt of that boy, Ivan. He dreamt that they were running through a field of sunflowers, free of worry, pain and fear. But, not all was well at Ivan's home...Alfred would only learn of this many, many years later._

* * *

Alfred sighed and shook his head to rid his mind of any negative thoughts that would surely come up soon. He quickly walked into the house. He lived alone now. His Mom had become a soldier to fight over in Iraq, his brothers had all moved to go and live with their biological Mothers or Fathers and his twin brother was going to college in Canada. His eyes wandered the house as he set his backpack down by the door, wandering into the living room. When his eyes landed on the mantel of the fireplace, he smiled. There were many trophies, medals, awards, and pictures all spread across it, using up any available space. There was a picture of his Father with his medal laid across the corner. There was his trophies for football and medals for swimming. There was Mattie's old trophy for winning the state Spelling Bee. There was also pictures of the whole family around Christmas, the only time when everyone could get along. There were a few pictures of him and Mattie as kids, as well as pictures of him and Arthur. When his eyes landed on the last picture, though, the smile dropped from his face.

It was of him and Ivan...As ten year old boys. He had his arm wrapped around Ivan's shoulders, Ivan had a smile on his face, and Natalya was hiding behind a wall in the background, glaring daggers into the back of his head. Alfred couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Natalya. She was crazy, that was for sure. Going over, he picked up the picture, walking back over to the couch and plopping down onto it.

He also remembered the day the picture was taken...

It was a tragic day, indeed...

* * *

**Yes, I know I have many more things I honestly SHOULD be working on but...THIS WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE. I saw a pic on DeviantART called 'Giving' by muffin-mixer and...I HAD TO. *Headdesk* I promise I will get around to O.Q.F...eventually.**

**For now, ENJOY THE CUTENESS~!**

**EDIT: Thanks to XStrawberryDuckFeathersX for the corrections.  
**


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